The Alpine Network of Protected Areas
The 2017 edition of the international Memorial Danilo Re, the official games for Alpine protected area rangers and protected area staff, took place from January 26 to 28 in the Gesäuse National park in Styria (Austria). In fairy tale-like winter conditions, more than 150 participants from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Slovenia competed in four disciplines in the small sport resort of Kaiserau close to Admont. As every year, the event also was the occasion for rangers, park staff and directors to meet, exchange and network.
Memorial Danilo Re as good start for the Austrian presidency of the Alpine Convention
After the traditional parade of the teams accompanied by torch light and traditional Styrian music through the streets of Admont, the Secretary General of the Alpine Convention Markus Reiterer, in the name of the Alpine states, warmly welcomed the 36 teams and their supporters. For Austria, which took over the presidency of the Alpine Convention in October 2016, Günter Liebel of the Federal Ministry for the Environment highlighted the radiant character of the event for the start of the presidency period. Both officials underlined the importance of the Memorial Danilo Re as unique and connecting event in the Alps, that perfectly communicates the joint efforts to preserve this valuable natural and cultural space that are the Alps to the greater public.
Platform for exchange: seminar on the nature interpretation approach
The Memorial Danilo Re has for years provided an optimal platform for the exchange of those employees from the Alpine protected areas who are responsible for monitoring, education and knowledge transfer. A broad professional task field, which is not only challenging, but also vital to man and nature. Within the framework of the memorial, expertise, exchange and dialogue are combined and bundled. This year, the focus of the seminar laid on a contemporary education and knowledge transfer method, the nature interpretation approach.
The Danilo Re Trophy: overall victories for Germany (men) and Austria (women)
Giant slalom, cross-country skiing and shooting - these are not only the disciplines that form the core of Olympic winter games, but also precisely the sports - supplemented by ski mountaineering - within which the participants were able to compete. Similar to the Olympic spirit, participation and joy stood in the foreground of the games, which offered a challenge for all.
The overall victory went to Nationalpark Berchtesgaden (DE, Team 2), followed by Parc Naziunal Svizzer (CH, Team 1) and the mixed team Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso (IT)/Parc National de la Vanoise (FR). For the ladies, Nationalpark Hohe Tauern (AT, Team 2) was able to defend its title ahead of Nationalpark Berchtesgaden (DE, Team 1) and Parco dell’ Adamello (IT, Team 2). The team from Berchtesgaden is therefore well prepared for the 23rd edition of the Danilo Re Trophy in 2018, which will take place in their National Park.
A big thank you to all the 36 teams who took part in this 22nd edition, and special thanks to the team of the Nationalpark Gesäuse and the other local organizers for making the event happen in perfect conditions. See you all, hopefully, in Berchtesgaden (DE) in January 2018.
Click here to see the photos of the event
See the detailed results by downloading the document below.
Source: The text is partly based on the press release (German) of the Nationalpark Gesäuse(30/01/2017) available below
The 22st Edition of the Memorial Danilo Re will take place from the 26th to the 29th of January 2017, in Admont, Austria. The event is organized by the Gesäuse National Park. As usual, within the framework of the Memorial, the ALPARC General Assembly will be held the 27th of January 2017. 
Organize your team, start to train and see you in Admont for the Trophy of the Alpine Protected Areas!
For further information & registration : http://www.alparc.org/danilore/index.php/en/
MEMORIAL Danilo Re
The 23rd Edition of the “Danilo Re Memorial” will take place January 25th to 28th 2018 in Berchtesgaden National Park (DE) which at the same time is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Happy anniversary Berchtesgaden National Park !
ALPARC General Assembly 2018
As usual the General Assembly of ALPARC will meet during the Danilo Re Memorial, on January 26th, 2018. All the ALPARC members are kindly invited to participate.
For further information, please check the Memorial Danilo Re website
YOUrALPS Kick-off Meeting will take place the 18th and 19th January 2017 in Chambéry (France), gathering Partners and Observers.
The international conference of LabEx ITEM " Mountain regions, territories of innovation" will be held in the City Territory - Université de Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France, from 11 to 13 January 2017.
The aim of this project is to conduct a social, economic and cultural analysis of innovation in Mountain Territories. A lot of issues will be debated, such as : What role in innovation at the local and regional levels (and their links)? Which meanings and visions of the mountain are at issue in the light of change? And what kind of territories emerge from these transitions?
More information and registration : http://labex-item.insight-outside.fr/colloque-innovation-montagne/index.php?langue=en&onglet=6&acces=&idUser=&emailUser=
The main aim of the project is to raise youth awareness on the entire Alpine natural and cultural heritage, by supporting youth environmental educational process via interconnected formal and non-formal education considering the Alps as natural, cultural, living and work space beyond borders.
The Lead Partner (LP), ALPARC - the Alpine Network of Protected Areas, launches a tender for management support for all tasks of financial management and smooth support for project administrative co-ordination.Participation is open to all legal persons who are established in a Member State of the European Union or in a country or territory of the regions covered and/or authorized by the specific instruments applicable to the programme under which the contract is financed.
Find the procurements, the terms of reference and all other relevant documents below.
Deadline for tender submissions is the 15th of January 2017.
Triglavski narodni park (SI) and Parco Naturale Prealpi Giulie (IT) in the Julian Alps are both founding members of ALPARC. Transboundary cooperation between the two parks dates back to 1996. In the following years common EU projects reinforced the partnership and in 2009, the transboundary Julian Alps Ecoregion, which also includes Slovenia’s Julian Alps MAB UNESCO Area, was officially awarded the EUROPARC Transboundary Certificate. In 2014, the transboundary cooperation was re-awarded; in the same year, the region has been declared Official Pilot Region for Ecological Connectivity of the Alpine Convention.
Recently, another milestone in transboundary cooperation has been achieved. On the 7th of Decembre, the protected area managements were officially awarded with the European Charter for sustainable tourism certificate in Brussels. This successful application makes the Julian Alps Ecoregion Europe’s first transboundary park holding this certificate. Both, the Triglav national park and the Prealpi Giulie nature park see the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas as an extraordinary opportunity to develop their region sustainably.
Further reading
EUROPARC website: http://www.europarc.org/julian-alps-transboundary-ecoregion/
With the aim to make a vast amount of data available to naturalists, tourists and other interested users online (e.g. trails, information on and observations of species), the Ecrins national park has developed open source tools since 2012. This makes them available to other protected areas. Why not also to you?
Biodiv’Ecrins is the most recent application. With this online portal, the national park has made accessible 500,000 observations of more than 4,000 species of the park’s flora and fauna, gathered since its creation in 1973. This atlas presents in a unique manner the region’s biodiversity. Rangers feed it with observations in real time via tablet. Behind the application stands the tool Geonature-Atlas, an open source application developed by the national park staff. Its open source character and its adaptability make it highly transferable. It is possible to feed the Atlas with any kind of database.
The approach grounds on the experience of the national park with Geotrek: Geotrek is a management and online valorisation tool of trail networks. It enables the users to manage a trail network comprehensively (signs, trail works) and valorize the touristic offer along itineraries and routes by the integration of local natural and cultural sites. Published under an open source licence, more than 40 protected areas and other organisations in France already use Geotrek. It is available in French, German, Italian and English and can easily be translated to other languages. For examples, see the web portals and smartphone applications of the Ecrins national park Rando Ecrins (hiking offer) and Grand Tour of the Ecrins (route tourism offer).
Please contact Camille Monchicourt if you are interested in these tools.
More about
Geonature-Atlas
the Geotrek user community
Other Geotrek sites to explore:
Maritimme Mercantour
PNR du Vercors
Parc national de la Vanoise
Parc national des Cévennes
Following an international seminar held in March 2016, the operational unit of ALPARC has been coordinating the drafting of a common strategy and awareness-raising tools to reduce impact on wildlife in the Alps.
The year 2016 has been marked by the launch of a working group within the ALPARC network covering the handling of mountain sports and outdoor activities in winter. On 3 and 4 March, an international seminar in the Massif des Bauges Natural Park brought together over 45 participants from different sectors and from throughout the Alps. They stressed the fundamental need to share methods and experiences and develop a common approach at an Alps-wide level.
A common communication strategy for large protected areas and beyond
A first step in this direction is the We respect Alpine Wildlife (WeWild) project coordinated by the operational unit of ALPARC. Over the next two years (2017-2018), this project aims to strengthen the links between the various initiatives at an Alpine level. Based on a collaborative approach with two workshops in 2017 and with a final conference in 2018, the project aims to develop a common communication strategy. It will provide the first tools for raising awareness, which will then be made available to a multitude of stakeholders in the Alps. Among these will be a website, which will also serve as a resource centre, and a “teaser” video clip drawing attention to the theme. WeWild will recruit members of the ALPARC working group – including several Alpine protected areas – as well as new players such as businesses in the “outdoor” sector.
Background information
Today, mountain sports and outdoor activities in winter are changing dramatically. Experts note an expansion of these activities in terms of time (throughout winter, all day) and space. Studies show that this shift has significant and detrimental effects on Alpine fauna, which is particularly vulnerable during the winter months. This problem requires a greater awareness among practitioners of these activities and among visitors to sensitive sites in order to enable a coexistence between man and wildlife.
The WeWild project has been selected as part of Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment's (BMUB) call for projects in 2016 with regard to special “environmental protection” postage stamps. Every two years, the Ministry supports projects proposed by environmental associations through the sale of a special postage stamp. As part of the German Presidency of the Alpine Convention 2015-2016, the 2016 edition of the stamp is called “The Alps – Diversity in Europe”.
In the frame of InnovAlps project and during this last year and a half, ALPARC has been committed in parks regional development in the Alps. During on-sites visits and workshops in three pilot regions, skills and experiences of local actors coming from parks, politics, tourism and local development were rallied and were able to exchange. InnovAlps has also presented a panel of initiatives of innovating local development, all characterized by novelty, risks-taking, valorization and cooperation between protected areas technical teams and other local actors. The project was closed by a final conference in the Regional Nature Park Pfyn-Finges (Switzerland) last September. In the final report, ALPARC has summarized project results and has formulated political recommendations for an improvement of the innovating capacity in the alpine parks territories.
On the basis of these results, ALPARC currently develop ideas or projects for a continuation in the “Regional development and life quality” focusing on, for instance, sustainable tourism or short circuits. In addition, ALPARC think about proceeding to work with an actor network of local development and enhance exchanges between alpine parks territories.
Acknowledgements
ALPARC is particularly thankful to the three pilot regions of InnovAlps project and their actors for their commitment, the interest they have shown in this project. ALPARC also thanks Austrian, Swiss, and French parks federations for their collaboration in this project. This project has been financed by Swiss federal office of the Environment.
More information
• www.alparc.org/innovalps
• Final report is available on request (in German). A synthesis will be available in the other Alpine languages beginning of 2017.
ALPARC proposes a 6-month internship at its office in Chambéry (France/Savoie)
Description of the Internship:
Required profile:
Please submit your application before 31st of May 2025 / 2 PM (CET) to the following address: info@alparc.org
Further details about the internship are available for download below (English and French)
ALPBIONET2030 project will enable ALPARC and the 14 other partners to refine the work already achieved on alpine ecological connectivity in these past years. The project objectives include the drawing up of strategic areas maps in and around the Alpine region (Strategic Alpine Connectivity Areas – SACA), the development of a strategy of wild fauna management in cooperation with various actors and a deepen work on mediation tools in order to answer to conflicts which could appear during the implementation of ecological network.
The project was officially launched at the occasion of the Kick off meeting in Vienna (Austria), the 1st and 2nd of last December. This event has gathered the project partners, numerous observers and different personality from alpine institutions. Thus, the General Secretary of the alpine Convention Mr. Markus Reiterer, the German focal point for alpine Convention, Mrs. Silvia Reppe, the President of the Ecological Network Platform of the alpine Convention, Mr. Thierry Boisseaux, among others, discussed about the importance of this project in an alpine and macro-regional context.
The recent publication « Alpine Nature 2030 – Creating [ecological] connectivity for generations to come » has marked the completion of an important preparation work, which pass now to a more operational phase, particularly through ALPBIONET2030 project. Protected areas from ALPARC network, which are present among partners, will play a key role in these activities, especially as pilot territories for the project results implementation.